Feedback after logging ~ 15hr

[cjonas]

So I've now spent a good bit of time in this game (level 9 Warrior, level 6 Rogue) and just wanted to give some general feedback...

First off, I want to say that this game is what I've been waiting for in a mobile RPG. It has a mixed feel between Diablo (mechanically) & Baldur's Gate (story/questing) . Also it's not "pay to win" junk like most everything else in the app store. I would definitely continue to pay for additional DLC once released.

However, I do have a list of things that I think take away from the game and could be improved:

1: Gear diversity & Drops.
This is really what made Diablo II so amazing. You were constantly finding unique & rare items and the chance for character improvements was very high (which causes endorphins to be released in your brain; aka fun . ANY monster had a chance to drop something interesting.

From what I've seen so far, Exiled Kingdom is lacking here. There is no variance in weapons & armor of a certain type (I think adding item "quality" could help here). Mob drops are predictable and boring. Rare items are few and far between. Damage enchantments rare often applied and only found on weapons. For example, my level 8 warrior is still using the same sword I got from a quest @ level 4. I think overcoming this would vastly improve replayability.

One challenge to overcome this problem is that everything measured is in very low #'s. When a high level armor only has an armor rating of 4-5 it doesn't lend itself to having much variance in the system.

Rest/Restore
The "Restore" system something I find kinda awkward and grinding. I'd prefer the standard "Rest" system (with chance for random encounter). My main complaint is that having to seek out a tavern every-time I want to go dungeoning means I spend way too much time running back and forth between town. I understand not wanting to let people rest in the wild, but it would be nice to be able to regain HP without running all the way back to town.

I know this is a pretty fundamental part of the game, so maybe just add rest areas outside of "proper" towns so that it's less grinding (there are a couple places I can think of; for example when you help a village/woodsman/outpost, they might let you rest at their place every X minutes for free as a reward). Or at the very least, scatter some more clergy around the map (+ traveling clergy is a good idea).

Random encounters not random enough
I'm sure you have plans to expand this, but the current set of random encounters is lacking and repetitive. Heading from Kingsbridge to New Garland? Probably going to run into a group of bandits demanding money.

Hirelings
Are worthless, except at the lowest levels. They die so fast and there is no way to heal them without using a precious "Restore".

Leveling
I find that leveling is a bit slow and somewhat awkward... Again, I think the issue here is kind of the low base math involved. You often have to save trait/skill points so sometimes you feel as though the new level didn't even improve your character. It works, but I think it could be improved.

Overall
This game is awesome, and I can't wait to see it mature. Keep up the good work!

 

[keeper216]

I like a lot of these ideas. I actually like the way the rest is in this game. It might be nice to rest at any of those camp sites that are scattered around. Have the camp sites to possibly be a random interruption. I was thinking about the weapons and armor the other day and how there are not to many unique one's. I almost like the realism of the rarity of special item's. Common bandit's aren't going to be carrying special weapons. Their leaders would keep any special items as their cut. Hirelings are pretty useless. Having them carry a random number of potions would solve their useless factor. Actually that might be a pretty easy fix. I'll have to create a post about this.

 

[DavidBVal]

Thanks for the feedback, many of those ideas are somewhere in my list already. Rare drops will be introduced for crafting. Resting system will remain as it is, but I'll implement campfires usability as well. Leveling won't change much, but I recently added ways to boost your XP gain. The game works on a scale of 20 levels, so you will not be leveling every 5 minutes like in RPGs with 100 levels.

 

[cjonas]

Thanks for the feedback, many of those ideas are somewhere in my list already. Rare drops will be introduced for crafting. Resting system will remain as it is, but I'll implement campfires usability as well. Leveling won't change much, but I recently added ways to boost your XP gain. The game works on a scale of 20 levels, so you will not be leveling every 5 minutes like in RPGs with 100 levels.

That makes sense. The leveling feedback was the lowest on my list for a reason and I think as more items (& features) are added to the game the sense of stagnation I experienced will be greatly reduced.

I'm a developer myself, so I didn't really expect that the resting system would change much at this stage in the game. I like the idea of using camps, but with some type of constraint (maybe you can only regain health or 1 recovery & only once a day).

Also, if you ever are looking for an extra code monkey, I've always wanted to get into game dev (as a hobby). I'd help out where I could for free and sign whatever I need to in order to ensure you protect your IP.